Some parts hard to believe

Rating: Null/10 (29 June 2003)

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Overall, the film was pretty good but there were some cultural influences that made if hard for me to identify with the characters and some of the plot line. Others will sum up the plot of the movie so I won't bother with a synopsis of the film.
**possible spoilers**
I don't know what it is with the prevalence of male nudity in British movies and television, but it did start me to thinking about the differences between American culture and the rest of the world, specifically Europe. So what does this have to do with the film? Well first off, if I were stranded in a city, surrounded by infected humans that want to kill me, I would not choose a bat or machete to defend myself with. I would find a firearm and make sure I had an ample supply of ammo for it. Why let the infected get within arms reach of you to kill them, when you can kill them from afar? Granted, this is England and people can't own firearms for the most part, so I could understand it if they were limited to Paleolithic era weapons. But then during the later part of the film, the main character, in a house filled with the infected, basically throws away a rifle he found and decides he would be better off bare handed. Why? While I am on the subject of firearms, it was also noted that the military guys in the film handled their weapons like, well, actors. Pretty much had to suspend all disbelief when `trained' soldiers started shooting from the hip.
Like most other movies I have seen, naturally the military guys are mean-spirited and messed up. Why make them out to be boogiemen, why not make them human like the main characters of the film? Why do films always have to portray military characters so one-dimensionally? Would real soldiers be so hard up after only one month without sex, that they would resort themselves to raping the first females they came in contact with? For a film that is supposed to explore the human condition, it completely failed on this aspect of the movie.
Finally, why did the main character go berserk at the end of the film and kill off the non-infected? Ok, I can understand him not being so fond of the idea of the soldiers raping his friends, but he seemed to go a bit overboard in trying to save them. After letting one of the infected loose, that obviously cause enough of a diversion that he could get his friends out without too much resistance. Why did he feel the need go out of his way to brutally kill any un-infected soldier he came in contact with? Did he really need to gouge out the eyes of one of the bad guys to save his girl? Once again, I found the film lacking in portraying real human emotions.
Overall, I did find the film interesting, and aside from its problems, was well worth the time to watch.